Blatantly Belated
by Ava Miranda Dakedavra
Summary: "Right, I shouldn't pry," Donna reminded herself before blinking, "Although I've got to ask…." "Yes?" Hermione smiled. "Whose shirt are you wearing?" she whispered with a grin as she blushed. She pulled her feet up on the chair with her, biting her lip as she blushed and wrapped her arms around her bare knees, "Ahh – the Doctor's." "What?"


**I like Donna. I think she's quirky and is a great friend for the Doctor. I also think she'd be friends with Hermione. Pretend that the Doctor and Donna saved Hermione from a dreadfully boring job at the Ministry and they're a while into their "adventures" together.**

**I tried typing this while watching _Conan_ and _Friends_, by the way. I got so distracted. **

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Donna wondered when the kitchen had appeared just across the hall from her when she decided to go looking for it in the middle of the "night," but couldn't find it within herself to complain about it. She quickly walked into the room, blinking when she saw Hermione sitting there at the table, staring off into space as she traced something on her arm.

"Alright there, Pet?" she questioned, making Hermione jump and blink at her before smiling and discreetly tugging the sleeve of the blue dress shirt down over her arm again.

"Fine, just…thinking," she admitted, biting her lip as Donna padded more into the room, opening the fridge and getting out an apple to crunch on it as she sat in the chair opposite Hermione.

"Penny for your thoughts, Love?" the redhead asked once she swallowed her bite of apple.

Hermione sighed, looking down at the wood tabletop and rubbing her fingers over it.

Donna had noticed that Hermione seemed much more worn than twenty-somethings usually did. She seemed much more faded when she was silent before perking right back up when the Doctor or Donna asked her about it. Well, Donna did most of the asking about it. The Doctor asked her some things like where she wanted to go for her day or if she knew a good place to get something.

Hermione looked up when Donna's hand covered her own, brown eyes looking up to meet brown.

"Hermione," Donna said, "What's wrong? You've been acting distant lately, Love."

Hermione sighed, pulling her hand away and biting her lip, "Just…thinking about the past. It…it wasn't too good, Donna."

Donna sat up straighter, completely forgetting all about her apple.

"My friend Harry…well, he was 'the Chosen One' to defeat this really bad wizard named Lord Voldemort," Hermione grimaced, "He's been chosen ever since he was one, and we finally went into war when we were seventeen. Harry, our friend Ron and I went gallivanting around, looking for things called Horcruxes. They're really dark magic, and they're parts of a person's soul. Well, Voldemort had seven. We hunted and destroyed six of them without a clue what the seventh was when our wizarding school, Hogwarts, was under attack. Harry learned that he was an unintentionally made Horcrux and had to sacrifice himself. I thought he was dead."

Donna was listening intently, gripping her apple as she stared at the young woman.

"Harry defeated Voldemort though," Hermione reassured with a smile, "I'm still just trying to get over some…things we went through."

"Like?" she questioned.

Hermione faltered, glancing back at her arm.

"Right, I shouldn't pry," Donna reminded herself before blinking, "Although I've _got_ to ask…."

"Yes?" Hermione smiled.

"Whose shirt are you wearing?" she whispered with a grin as she blushed.

She pulled her feet up on the chair with her, biting her lip as she blushed and wrapped her arms around her bare knees, "Ahh – the Doctor's."

"_What?_"

"Well, you were somewhere, and we had an altercation in the Victorian area where I was correctly mistaken for a witch and tied up and shoved into a very deep lake. He dived after me and pulled me out, and since then I had absolutely no dry clothes and would feel awful for stealing some of yours and had absolutely _no clue_ where my wand was, he gave me a shirt and I never really gave it back." She smiled and hid it behind her collar. "And I really don't want to so _sshhh_…."

Donna found herself laughing and being quieted, the two smiling at the company of another female.

"What is it with you and the Doctor, anyway?" Donna asked, tilting her head to the side.

"What do you mean?" Hermione questioned innocently, which made Donna sigh as she knew the girl was really innocent.

"Oh you don't know," she groaned, taking another bite of her apple, "Oh, that's terrible."

"What?" Hermione blinked.

"_Nothing_," she insisted, the two falling into an easy silence. Soon enough, Donna's apple was gone and she was leaving a sticky mess on the table as she rolled the core around, her eyelids feeling heavy as Hermione watched the progress she made. "Well, I think I'll be off to bed. No telling when we'll be woken up to go save some planet or something," Donna snorted as she stood, chucking the core in the rubbish bin, "Hermione, if you ever feel the need to talk, I'm always somewhere in the madman's box."

Hermione smiled up at her, "Thanks, Donna."

Donna smiled back before walking back to her room, unaware that there was a form in the shadows that was watching to make sure she'd left.

Hermione picked her feet up on the table, tilting her head back as she closed her eyes and sighed as somebody else slipped into Donna's vacated seat. She practically jumped when she heard somebody who _wasn't_ Donna speak.

"I wasn't aware you were so attached to my shirts," the Doctor said in amusement as she stared at him with wide eyes, "I'd have given you more if I knew."

She blinked at him before slipping her legs off of the table and just staring at him, "How long have you been there?"

He propped his feet up where hers had been, making Hermione wonder if he ever slept, as he was now in a different suit with different Converse on, "Ahh, about whenever Donna walked it."

"And you didn't feel the need to interrupt us?" she questioned.

"Well, I was going to ask you what was wrong too – Donna just beat me to the punch," he shrugged before eyeing her arm, "You know, the TARDIS says there've been decreases in her gauze stocks…" He arched an eyebrow when a hand immediately went to her arm, "Something to worry about?"

"It's nothing," she insisted.

"The word '_Mudblood_' permanently etched onto your arm says something different," his gaze softened when she looked sadly at him, "You don't have to hide it, Hermione."

"It's ugly and – and was part of a very painful past," she insisted, more to herself than him, "My past. Nothing to do with you or Donna or – "

"Hermione, we care about you. Remember when you broke down and started crying when you opened up that closet in that old house and found a bogart?"

"Yes," she said after a slight pause, deciding it wasn't the time to bring up that directly after that they'd ran into Weeping Angels.

"And what did I do?"

Another pause before she continued, "You held me and kept telling me that she wasn't real, that she couldn't hurt me."

"That's right. And what did Donna do when that bloke in Liverpool insulted you?"

A twitch of her lips, which made the Doctor grin just a little, "She slapped him and said '_your mother is a bigger one, boy!_'" The two chuckled a little at it before he stood up and walked around the table to lean against it and look down at her. She somehow couldn't pull herself away from his eyes, no matter how _fascinating_ she was sure her toes probably were.

"We will never look down on you," he promised, tilting her chin and forcing her to look up at him when she finally managed to pull her gaze away from his, "Except when we're in positions like this, while there are physical height differences that force me to _physically_ look down to see your pretty face."

She flushed and pulled her face out of his grasp, mumbling out, "I'm not pretty."

"You're right," he said, dropping down to her ear, "You're gorgeous."

Hermione jerked her head back a let out a hiss as she nearly fell out of her chair, only being caught by the Doctor, making him grin as he set her up on the table, which made her huff and cross her arms at him as he grinned wider.

"What's with all of this nonsense all of a sudden?" she asked, although her face was still rather pink.

"What nonsense?" he asked, tilting his head to one side.

"Donna being all '_what's with you and the Doctor_' and you being all – all," she gave a frustrated growl, "Actually, this is all unpredictably _you_, but I'm still confused by it!"

"You really don't know what Donna meant, do you?" he asked, highly amused.

"No!" she huffed, pouting just a bit.

"Love, you are _painfully_ taken with me."

She gaped, although her face did get a bit pink, "What are you - ?"

"Oh, though you must not know it yet," he hummed, resting his hands on either side of her legs and smiling at her, "Consciously, of course, I suspect your subconscious is already trying to get you to realize it."

She only gaped at him, wanting to hide her face in something, but he was the nearest thing and that would only be more awkward for her if she were to hide her face in his shirt.

He smiled and tilted his head, "Your hair smells nice, by the way, I've never told you."

She arched an eyebrow at him, finally closing her mouth, and smiled a little, "Thank you."

"What're you thinking?" he questioned after a few silent moments, where Hermione frowned and stared off at something.

"I'm thinking about how blatantly oblivious I've been," she told him before snorting, "I've been blatantly oblivious while also being painfully obvious."

"That's a new record," he noted with a grin.

"For what?"

"For being blatantly oblivious while also being painfully obvious for about a month or so."

"A month?"

"That's just when I started noticing. Donna might've noticed sooner. Either way – a new record!"

She smiled at him as he smiled down at her, "Thank you, I think."

He nodded, "Any time. Well, sweet dreams, Hermione." He reached forward, pressing his lips to hers and smiling when he pulled back, as she just stared at him and blinked. He walked out of the room, popping his head back in and grinning, "And you can keep the shirt."

Hermione whimpered and lowered her elbows on her knees as she hid her blushing face in her hands. "That bloody man…."

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**Sorry if it wasn't any good, I just wanted a 10th/Hermione oneshot that wasn't full of _angst_. And I wanted Donna there too. Can I _be_ Donna when I grow up? Ride with the Doctor and everything?**

**Enough of me. Thanks for reading, I'd appreciate it if you'd review.**

**Love,**

**Emilee**


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